Optimal Water Supply Scheduling Mechanisms using Bio-Inspired Algorithms for IoT-based Smart Water Distribution Network

The purpose of water distribution networks is to provide water to city residents. Even with climate change and decreasing precipitation, water distribution systems should be built to accommodate consumer demand. A Water Distribution Network (WDN) consists of pipes, valves, pumps, tanks, etc., to transfer potable water from reservoirs to consumer nodes. Internet of things (IoT) and information and communication technologies (ICT) are applied to water management systems (WMS) to make them smarter and more efficient. The physical devices of the water system are equipped with smart sensors and controllers so that real-time measurement of remote data such as smart meter reading, water tank level, valve condition, and pipe pressure rate can be gathered using smart sensors and broadcasted to the cloud via communication protocols. The data can then be examined, processed, and computed for the water authority board to make an ideal decision regarding the water supply scheduling in the WDN system to minimize the pump's operation cost and decrease water loss. Smart mobile devices are being utilized to inform consumers regarding their water usage and billing status. This paper will elaborate on the optimization algorithms performed to optimize the water resource scheduling model for the water distribution management system. Bio-inspired algorithms are used to optimize pump stations' scheduling by considering the pump's features like its start time, discharge time, and discharge capacity.